Poultry-feeder.



H. E. GROSSENBACHER.

POULTRY FEEDER.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 15. 1915,

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H. E. GROSSENB ACHER.

POULTRY FEEDER.

APPLICATlQN FILED JULY 15.1915.

Patented June 20, 1916.

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HENRY GBOSSENBACHER, 0F OVERLAND, MISSOURI.

POULTRY-FEEDER.

Application filed July 15, 1915.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, HENRY E. GnossnN- nxorrnn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Overland, in the county of St. Louis and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Poultry-Feeders; and I do declare the' following to be a full, clear, and exact descrip tion of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to useful improvements in poultry feeding devices and has for its object to improve upon the construction of feeders of this class to such an extent as to provide a device which although being very simple and inexpensive, will be highly efficient in operation and will possess a number of advantageous features, provision being made whereby the entire structure employed for supporting the feed hopper may be knocked down at will.

With this general object in view, the invention resides in certain novel features of construction and in the unique combinations of parts hereinafter fully claimed and described by reference to the accompanying drawings wherein,

Figure l is a front elevation of a feeder constructed in accordance with my inven tion; Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof; Figs. 3 and 4 are respectively vertical longitudinal and vertical transverse sections; Fig. 5 is a horizontal section taken on the plane indicated by the line 55 of Fig. 3; Fig. 6 is a detail perspective view of the upper end of one of the hollow standards and, the stud carried by the hopper for reception in said end; Fig. 7 is an additional detail perspective of the intermediate portion of one standard, and the co-acting end of the platform supporting bar; and Fig. 8 is a detail vertical section taken on the plane indicated by the line S8 of Fig. 1-.

In these drawings, which constitute a part of the application and in which like reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several views, the numeral 1 indicates a pair of parallel horizontally disposed feet preferably in the form of sections of pipe of the required length.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 2Q, 1916.

Serial No. 40,002. I

The upper sides of the feet l are provided therein with openings into which the lower ends a pair of substantially upright standards 2 are inserted and held in position by screw threads as shown in the drawings, or by any preferred means.

The standards 2 are preferably formed of pipes in order that the upper ends thereof may receive studs 3 which depend from a hopper i at diametrically opposite points, said studs being here shown as formed by reducingin width the lower ends of upright plates 6 which are riveted, soldered, or otherwise secured to the hopper.

The hopper 4- is provided with a funnelshaped bottom 6 having at its center a dclivery opening 6 which'is surrounded by a depending annular flange 7, while the upper end of said hopper is closed by a conical sheet metal cover 8 having in its apex an opening which alines with an additional opening in a horizontal plate 9 secured at its ends to the under side of said cover. Both of these openings receive therein the upper end of an upright rod 10, this rod being passed rotatably through upper and lower horizontal bars 12 which are secured at their ends respectively to the cylindrical wall of the hopper 1 and to the funnelshaped bottom 6 thereof, said rod being provided with a stop nut 13 which overlies the upper bar 12. The lower end of the rod 10 de JGDClS throu h the central ooenin 6 is 1 D D 7 threaded, and receives a conical hub 1 1 which rises from the center of a horizontal valve disk 15, the cone-shaped hub being designed to extend substantially into the opening 6 to control the discharge of feed therethrough from the hopper, it being obvious that said hub and the disk 15 may be raised and lowered at will by proper adjustment of the nut 13. Clamped on the lower end of the rod 10 beneath the disk 15, by a nut 17, is an additional and smaller disk 16 which is provided at its edge with a downwardly and outwardly inclining rim 18 having an eccentric opening 19.

Received loosely in the opening 19, is an upright crank arm 20 which rises from a vertically oscillatory platform 21 mounted between the standards 2, such platform being here shown as formed of a plurality of parallel longitudinal slats 22 connected at 7 their ends by cleats 23 and secured at their centers to a horizontal barli whose opposite ends are reduced in width to form bearing studs 25 which pass rotatably through 'openings 26 formed in the inner sides of ther movement.

-. In operation, an appropriate amount of grain is deposited in the hopper 1 and either 7 thenut l3 or the nut 17 is properly adjusted to allow an amount of such grain to be discharged through the opening 6 onto the edge portion of the disk 15, such portion 7 now constituting a ledge for normally re taining. a predetermined amount of feed. When now, the'fowls jump upon the platform 21 and oscillate the same vertically, the

two disks 15 and 16, and the conical rim 1S 1 will be oscillated horizontally through the instrumentality of the crank arm 20. This movement of these parts, causes anamount of grain or other feed in the hopper to fall upon the aforesaid rim, from which it will drop to the earth, a slight amount remaining'on the slats of the platform, this being rather essential in order that it may serve as bait to cause the fowls to operate the device.

Although the feeder would operate to advantage comprising only the parts above described if it were employed only'in. poultry houses or other shelters, it becomes highly essential to so construct the same as to permit its use out of doors regardlessof the prevalence of rain and wind. .To this end, an annular upstanding wind shield 28 surrounds the two disks 15 and 16 and the upper edge of the rim 19, said shield being secured to the bottom 5 of the hopper 4: and

being necessarily spaced a distance from the edgesof the disks, as'shown clearly. in Figs. 3 and 4:: The shield 28 is not only advantageous for preventing the feed from being blownfrom the disk 15, but itserves to prevent rain water from runnmg down the sidesand bottom of the hopper and onto the feed on said disk. Furthermore, the shield'prevents sparrows and other predatory birds from stealing the feed.

When the devices are to be stored or shipped, they may be readily disassembled by raising the hopper to such an extent as towithdraw the studs 3 from the tubular standards 2, and byshifting said standards laterally to disengage therefrom the bearing studs. 25. If desired, the parts carried by the lower end ofthe, upright rod 10 may now be detached and placed within the hopper. Thusit will be evident that the feeder will be compact and may thus be stored or packed in a comparatively small space. Another advantage of the construction described, is that the hopper and parts carried thereby may be removed from the standards and carried to the granary to be refilled, this being a much easier task than the carrying of the entire device.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, it will be evident that although the construction of the device is very simple and therefore inexpensive, the same will be highly eflicient and durable and will possess a number of advantageous characteristics.

In the drawings, certain specific details of construction have been shown for accomplishing probably the best results, and in the preceding such details have been described, but it is obvious that I need not be limited thereto otherwise than to the extent to which the appended claims restrict me.

I claim 1. A feeder comprising a hopper having a delivery opening in its lower end, a valve controlling the discharge of feed through said opening, a vertically oscillatory platform beneath the hopper, and a crank arm rising from the platform to the valve member, whereby to actuate the latter upon oscillation of the former.

2. A feeder comprising a hopper having in its lower end an outlet, a horizontally oscillatory valve member controlling the discharge of feed through said outlet, said valve member being provided with an eccentrically disposed portion having therein an opening, a vertically oscillatory platform beneath the hopper, and a rigid crank arm rising from said platform into the aforesaid opening.

3. A feeder comprising a supporting frame, a hopper supported thereby and movable vertically therefrom, said hopper having in its lower end an outlet, a horizontally oscillatory valve member controlling the discharge of feed through said outlet, said member having an eccentrically positioned portion provided with an opening, a vertieally oscillatory platform mounted on the frame, and a rigid crank rising from said platform removably into the aforesaid opening.

4. A feeder comprising a pair of upright standards having in their adjacent sides alined openings, one of said standards being of tubular formation, a horizontal bar having its opposite ends provided with bearing studs projecting into said openings, a stop finger depending from one of the bearing studs into the tubular standard, a vertically oscillatory platform secured to the horizontal bar, a hopper supported by the standarcls and having in its lower end an outlet, a my hand in presence of two subscribing Witvalve member controlling the discharge of nesses. feed from said outlet andmeans havin c0nnection With the platform and the valve HENRY GROSSENBACHER' member for actuating the latter upon oscil- Witnesses: lation of the former. I. S. GAsKILL,

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set A. N. LEWIS.

women oil this patent new be obtained for fire cents each, by aifldressing the "Gommimsloner of FMCMILW, Wilmington, D. 0." 

